Slavery by descent and chattel slavery Slavery by descent, also called
chattel slavery, is the form most often associated with the word "slavery". In chattel slavery, the enslaved person is considered the
personal property (chattel) of someone else, and can usually be bought and sold. It stems historically either from conquest, where a conquered person is enslaved, as in the
Roman Empire or
Ottoman Empire, or from slave trading, as in the
Saharan or
Atlantic slave trades. Since the
2014 Civil War in
Libya, and the subsequent breakdown of law and order, there have been reports of enslaved migrants
being sold in public, including open
slave markets in the country.
Mauritania has a
long history with slavery. Chattel slavery was formally made illegal in the country but the laws against it have gone largely
unenforced. It is estimated that around 90,000 people (over 2% of Mauritania's population) are slaves.
Debt bondage can also be passed down to descendants, like chattel slavery. Those trapped in the system of
sexual slavery in the modern world are often effectively chattel, especially when they are forced into prostitution.
Government-forced labor Government-forced labor, also known as
state-sponsored labor, is defined by the International Labor Organization as situations where people "are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as accumulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities". In
Eritrea, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people are in an
indefinite military service program which amounts to mass slavery, according to UN investigators. Their report also found sexual slavery and other forced labor. In
North Korea, the government forces many people to work for the state, both inside and outside North Korea itself, sometimes for many years. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimated that 2.8 million people were slaves in the country. The value of all the labor done by North Koreans for the government is estimated at US$975 million, with
dulgyeokdae (youth workers) forced to undertake dangerous construction work, and
inminban (women and girl workers) forced to make clothing in
sweatshops. The workers are often unpaid. Additionally, North Korea's army of 1.2 million conscripted soldiers is often made to work on construction projects unrelated to defense, including building private villas for the elite. In
Uzbekistan, for example, the government coerces students and state workers to harvest cotton, of which the country is a
main exporter, every year, forcing them to abandon their other responsibilities in the process. In this example the use of students, including those in primary, secondary, and higher education, means that
child labor is also prominent. Uzbekistan's government has worked to reduce the forced labor in recent years, and in March 2022 a major boycott of Uzbek cotton was lifted, upon reports that coerced labor had been almost eliminated.
Prison labor In 1865, the
United States ratified the
13th Amendment to the
United States Constitution, which banned slavery and involuntary servitude "except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted", providing a legal basis for slavery, now referred to as penal labor, to continue in the country. Historically, this led to the system of
convict leasing which still primarily affects African-Americans. The
Prison Policy Initiative, an American criminal justice think tank, cites the 2020 US prison population at being 2.3 million individuals, and nearly all able-bodied inmates work in some fashion. is permitted in the state constitution as of November 2022 In
Texas,
Georgia,
Alabama and
Arkansas, prisoners are not paid at all for their work. In other states, prisoners are paid between $0.12 and $1.15 per hour (as of 2013).
Federal Prison Industries paid inmates an average of $0.90 per hour in 2017. or have family visitation revoked. From 2010 to 2015 and
again in 2016 and
in 2018, some prisoners in the US
refused to work, protesting for better pay, better conditions, and for the end of forced labor. Strike leaders were punished with indefinite solitary confinement. Forced prison labor occurs in both public/government-run prisons and
private prisons.
CoreCivic and
GEO Group constitute half of the market share of private prisons, and they made a combined revenue of $3.5 billion in 2015. The value of all the labor done by inmates in the United States is estimated to be in the billions. In
California in 2018, 2,500 incarcerated workers fought wildfires for $1 per hour through the CDCR's
Conservation Camp Program, which saved the state as much as $100 million a year. In
China's system of labor prisons (formerly called
laogai), millions of prisoners have been subject to forced, unpaid labor. The laogai system is estimated to currently house between 500,000 and 2 million prisoners. In parallel with laogai, China operated the smaller
re-education through labor system of prisons up until 2013. In addition to both of these, China is also reportedly operating
forced labor camps in Xinjiang, imprisoning hundreds of thousands (possibly as many as a million) of
Uyghurs, as well as a smaller number of Tibetans and political dissidents. In the UK, there are three key types of prison labour. First, prisoners can be made to maintain the jail—for example cleaning, maintenance, or working in the kitchens. Second, prisoners have the option to do mundane/repetitive work for external companies; this includes tasks such as bagging nails and packing boxes. Finally, prisoners can work in specialist workshops run by third parties, in which the prisoners can do tasks such as building window-frames, graphic design and other tasks requiring some form of machinery. A 2013 report suggest prisoners in the UK can earn as little as £10 for a 40-hour week's worth of work. In Australia, prison labour occurs in at least
New South Wales,
Victoria,
Queensland and the
Northern Territory. Some prisoners work for private companies. As of 2017, in NSW some are paid as little as $0.82 per hour, while in the NT some are paid as much as $16 per hour (compared to $35 per hour for a regular union employee in the same job).
Bonded labor Bonded labor, also known as
debt bondage and peonage, occurs when people give themselves into slavery as a security against a loan or when they inherit a debt from a relative. The cycle begins when people take extreme loans under the condition that they work off the debt. The "loan" is designed so that it can never be paid off, and is often passed down for generations. People become trapped in this system working ostensibly towards repayment though they are often forced to work far past the original amount they owe. They work under the force of threats and abuse. Sometimes the debts last a few years, and sometimes the debts are even passed onto future generations. Bonded labor is used across a variety of industries in order to produce products for consumption around the world. In India, when compared to the price of land, paid labor or oxen, the price of slaves is currently 95% less than it was in the past.
Forced migrant labor People may be enticed to migrate with the promise of work, only to have their documents seized and be
forced to work under the threat of violence to them or their families. Undocumented immigrants may also be taken advantage of, as without legal residency they often have no legal recourse. Along with sex slavery, this is the form of slavery most often encountered in wealthy countries such as the United States, in Western Europe, and in the Middle East. In the
United Arab Emirates, some foreign workers are exploited and more or less enslaved. The majority of the UAE resident population are foreign migrant workers rather than local
Emirati citizens, with there being over 1.7 million migrant workers, making up 90% of the constructive workforce. The country has a
kafala system, which is associated with outdated laws and procedures, which ties migrant workers to local Emirati sponsors with very little government oversight. This has often led to forced labor and human trafficking. As of 2017, the
UAE is pushing towards a better labor system as it has recently passed laws to protect the rights of domestic workers. Allegations of forced migrant labor have been highlighted within the preparations of stadiums for the
Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup. Amnesty International researched into the construction of the stadiums and found 3,200 migrant workers work on the stadiums everyday, in which at least 224 of them have reported abusive and exploitative behaviour. In October 2019
Qatar abolished
Kafala system and introduced basic minimum wage and wage protection system for migrant workers. Under these reforms workers can change jobs without employer's permission and are now paid basic minimum wage regardless of their nationality. The basic minimum wage is set to 1,000 QAR and allowances for food and accommodation must be provided by employers which is 300 QAR and 500 QAR respectively. Moreover, Qatar introduced a wage protection system to ensure the employers are complying with the reforms. The wage protection system monitors the workers in the private sector. This new system has reduced wage abuses and disputes among migrant labours. Additionally in the UK two individuals in Kent were found guilty of trafficking six Lithuanian men. They were forced to work back to back 8 hour shifts as chicken catchers. Further investigations into this highlighted that the farms these individuals were working at were supplying eggs to large supermarket chains such as Tesco's, Asda and M&S. In the United States, various industries have been known to take advantage of forced migrant labor. During the 2010
New York State Fair, 19 migrants who were in the country legally from Mexico were forced to work in a food truck and essentially enslaved by their employer. The men were paid around ten percent of what they were promised, worked far longer days than they were contracted to, and would be deported if they quit their job, as this would be a violation of their visas. A 2021 multi-agency federal investigation dubbed
Operation Blooming Onion revealed that a years-long human trafficking ring forced migrant workers from Mexico and Central America into "modern day slavery" on various agricultural sites in southern
Georgia. The indictment alleges that in the fields the migrant workers were forced at gunpoint to dig for onions with their bare hands for 20 cents per bucket. They were held in work camps surrounded by electrified fences and subjected to squalid and crammed living conditions, with no access to safe food or water. Reports of migrant abuse and neglect surfaced in
Kenya in early September 2022, when pictures of a frail looking young Kenyan worker from
Saudi Arabia, Diana Chepkemoi went viral. Following growing pressure from the public, the government repatriated Chepkemoi along with a few other domestic workers facing a similar fate in the Kingdom. Among those rescued was Joy Simiyu, who went to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic help, but within months returned to Kenya with a harrowing but known tale of abuse by her employer. According to reports, migrant housekeepers complained of being subjected to physical, mental as well as sexual abuse while working in the Gulf state.
Sex slavery '', by Jean-Léon Gérôme Along with migrant slavery, forced prostitution is the form of slavery most often encountered in wealthy regions such as the
United States, in Western Europe, and in the Middle East. It is the primary form of slavery in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, particularly in Moldova and Laos. Many
child sex slaves are trafficked from these areas to the West and the Middle East. An estimated 20% of slaves to date are active in the sex industry. Sexual exploitation can also become a form of debt bondage when enslavers insist that victims work in the sex industry to pay for basic needs and transportation. In 2005, the
Gulf Times reported that boys from Nepal had been lured to India and enslaved for sex. Many of these boys had also been subject to male genital mutilation (
castration). Many of those who become victims of sex slavery initially do so willingly under the guise that they will be performing traditional sex work, only to become trapped for extended periods of time, such as those involved in
Nigeria's human trafficking circuit.
Forced marriage and child marriage Early or
forced marriage is a form of slavery that affects millions of women and girls all over the world. When families cannot support their children, the daughters are often married off to the males of wealthier, more powerful families. These men are often significantly older than the girls. The females are forced into lives whose main purpose is to serve their husbands. This often fosters an environment for physical, verbal and
sexual abuse. The regions most affected by this problematic are usually those ruled by patriarchal systems with strict social norms, and countries with high poverty rates since marriage is seen as an efficient way to gain financial security for the girls and their families. Forced marriages also happen in developed nations. In the United Kingdom there were 3,546 reports to the police of forced marriage over three years from 2014 to 2016.
In the United States over 200,000 minors were legally married from 2002 to 2017, with the youngest being only 10 years old. Most were married to adults. Currently 48
US states, as well as
D.C. and
Puerto Rico, allow marriage of minors as long as there is judicial consent, parental consent or if the minor is pregnant. In 2017–2018, several states began passing laws to either restrict child marriage or ban it altogether.
Bride-buying is the act of purchasing a
bride as property, in a similar manner to chattel slavery. It can also be related to human trafficking.
Child labor Children comprise about 12% of the slaves as of 2022 estimates. Although children can legally engage in certain forms of work, children can also be found in slavery or slavery-like situations; although child labor isn't considered slavery, it inevitably hinders their education. Forced begging is a common way that children are forced to participate in labor without their consent. Most are domestic workers or work in
cocoa,
cotton or
fishing industries. Many are trafficked and sexually exploited. Forced child labor is the dominant form of slavery in
Haiti. In war-torn countries, children have been kidnapped and sold to political parties to use as
child soldiers.
Child soldiers are children who may be trafficked from their homes and forced or coerced by armed forces. The armed forces could be government armed forces, paramilitary organizations, or rebel groups. While in these groups the children may be forced to work as cooks, guards, servants or spies. It is common for both boys and girls to be sexually abused while in these groups. Situations where young people work in unpaid
internships have been likened to modern slavery.
Fishing industry . According to
Human Rights Watch, Thailand's billion-dollar fish export industry remains plagued with human rights maltreatment in spite of government vows to stamp out servitude in its angling industry. Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with 248 fishermen, it documented the forced labor of trafficked workers in the Thai fishing industry. Trafficking victims are often tricked by brokers' false promises of "good" factory jobs, then forced onto fishing boats where they are trapped, bought and sold like livestock, and held against their will for months or years at a time, forced to work grueling 22-hour days in dangerous conditions. Those who resist or try to run away are beaten, tortured, and often killed. This is commonplace because of the disposability of
unfree laborers. Despite some improvements, the situation has not changed much since a large-scale survey of almost 500 fishers in 2012, that found almost one in five "reported working against their will with the penalty that would prevent them from leaving".
Forced begging Victims of human trafficking can be made to beg on the streets with the earnings being given back to the traffickers. It has been suggested many children across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are forced to beg on the streets. As years pass by, the number of children forced to beg has exponentially increased. Children are more frequently forced since people are more likely to pay attention and help kids. Furthermore, in Bangkok, Thailand, it was discover that children with disabilities earn much more than healthy children, so often times this individuals are mutilated to generate more money.
Forced fraud There are significant reports of forced fraud in Southeast Asia (
Cambodia,
Myanmar, or
Laos). Currently, forced fraud activities are mainly found in
fraud factories or fraud parks, notably in Southeast Asian countries, which involve human trafficking. Fraud factory victims are forced to scam internet users around the world into fraudulently buying cryptocurrencies or withdrawing cash, via social media and online dating apps. Trafficking victims' passports are confiscated, and they are threatened with organ harvesting or forced prostitution if they do not earn enough from scamming. ==Occupations==